Every day brings new horrors

Menu

Day #185: Event Horizon (1997)

Synopsis:
[From IMDb:] A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned…with someone or something new on-board.My take:

According to Event Horizon, this is the year we establish our first colony on the moon. I’m sure my 13 year old self absolutely believed that was a possibility, too.

Event Horizon has a gritty, retro aesthetic. This is no Star Trek version of technological advancement – all clean lines and minimalism. It’s dark, dangerous, and still pretty damn cool looking, almost 20 years later. Even the CGI manages to still look half-decent, if you ignore the liquids (which I believe – along with fire – is still hard to do right with CG).

Speaking of aesthetics, I only now noticed that Sam Neil’s character has an Australian flag with the Aboriginal flag in place of the Union Jack, even though I’ve seen this movie a billion times. Apparently they’re meant to show future political allegiances, which is kinda awesome.

Not exactly pretty, but still cool.

I can’t say that Event Horizon really does anything all that original. It covers a lot of area that was covered before, and has been covered since. But it does it well, darn it. The acting is mostly great; the sets look fantastic; it’s appropriately tense and scary when it needs to be; and, sure, there’s some stupid character moments, but the story’s generally decent (unless you’re the kind of person who gets annoyed by speculative science, I guess!), even with a bit of a messy ending. I can’t really find anything to complain about.

I wouldn’t say that Event Horizon is one of the best horror movies I’ve seen, but it’s certainly underrated.

I can’t help but wonder what it could have been, without so many problems behind the scenes. Would a Director’s Cut allow us to see the amazing film that Event Horizon had the potential to be? Hmm…

Bonus: For a less positive review that you should still read (the review, not the book), you should go read my latest review on Horror Novel Reviews.